Perfect 10: Ten best ice creams, gelatos and sorbets

The master of Italian ices, Jacob Kenedy from London's Gelupo, teaches you five ways to make sure your scoops bring all the boys (and girls) to the yard this summer

By
Jacob Kenedy

20/06/2014

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Their politicians might be questionable and their highway code non-existent, but the one thing the Italians do know is their ice cream, or should we say gelato, made with full-fat milk but very little cream and no added egg yolk – major sources of fat in traditional ice cream.

Click through for five of the finest recipes - all surprisingly easy to whip up at home >>>

Ready? Okay, mix together the cocoa powder and sugar. Stir in 500ml water, slowly, avoiding lumps, then add the honey. Bring to the boil, take off the heat as soon as it bubbles, add the chocolate and stir until evenly mixed. Cool to room temperature (put your feet up for half an hour), then blend with a hand-held blender. Freeze in an ice-cream machine. Bask smugly.The scoop: Flavonoids in dark chocolate boost blood flow to the brain for up to three hours, claims a Nottingham University study. Go, cocoa.

Prepare the sorbet syrup as before (practice makes perfect). Blanch the peaches for a minute in boiling water to release the colour and flavour from the skins. Then cut the flesh from the stones, add a squeeze of lemon juice and puree. Press the puree through a sieve. Put 650ml of this puree, with the syrup, into your ice cream maker and freeze as before. Too easy.The scoop: Peaches are a great source of vitamin C, vitamin A and the mineral selenium, which all help prevent skin cancer. Peachy!

Bring the milk and honey to a boil. Mix 130g sugar with the milk powder and stir into the milk. Turn off the hob, add the (bloomed) gelatine and ricotta and blend. Cool to room temperature then churn. Chop the berries, mix with 65g sugar and flour, bring to the boil, chill, then add the extract. Freeze until cold but not solid. Marble the berries through the ricotta and freeze for 30 mins.The scoop: A study from Michigan University suggests blueberries help reduce belly fat. Super!

Got your pinny on? For the syrup, bring 250ml water, the sugar and honey to the boil, then turn off the heat. Bloom the gelatine in cold water, drain, then stir into the hot sugar mix. Leave the syrup to cool. To make the sorbet, blend the berries with the syrup and lemon juice to taste. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream machine until ready to serve.The scoop: Strawberries are high in fructose. If you eat this before a workout, the natural sugar will go directly to your muscles. Sweet, innit?

To make the base bianca, gently heat the milk, cream and honey. In a bowl, mix the sugar and milk powder. When the pan steams, add the sugar mix as you stir. Simmer, take off the heat and stir in the (bloomed) gelatine. Leave to cool. To make the gelato, blend in peanut butter and icing sugar and freeze in an ice-cream machine.The scoop: Peanuts are a source of fibre, which keeps you full without weight gain. Crunch time!

Make the base bianca as before, but instead of leaving it to cool at room temperature, refrigerate until very cold. Blanch the mint for 10 seconds in boiling water, refresh it for 20 seconds in iced water, then drain and blend with the dextrose and one quarter of the base bianca until smooth. Sieve into your ice cream machine, using the remaining base bianca to rinse the blender. Churn until quite firm. Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil, cool
to around 37°C and while the machine is still running, drizzle in the tepid molten chocolate. Take the ice cream from the machine and leave to firm up a little in the fre

You’re a pro by now, so make the base bianca as before. Remember you need to leave this to cool completely before mixing together all the ingredients and leaving to stand for half an hour or so before churning. The only difference here is that when the base is ready, you add in the honey and coffee and leave the mixture to stand for half an hour before churning and freezing. Buon appetito!The scoop: Research in the Archives Of Internal Medicine said regular coffee consumption cut our risk of depression by up to 20%. Good java.

Make the syrup as before. You’re an expert now. Then grind the almonds in a processor for 5 mins. Add 150ml water and grind for 5 mins more, then add 850ml water. Turn off the machine, let it steep for 20 mins, then sieve it. Mix 650ml of this almond milk with the sorbet syrup, sugar, honey and almond extract. Freeze in the machine as usual. This one is Marjorie Dawes’ favourite.The scoop: Regular almond eaters cut their likelihood of weight gain by 31% found a study in the British Journal Of Nutrition. That’s nuts.

Get ready to tickle your taste buds. First, make the syrup as before. Then discard the seeds from the melon and scoop out the flesh. Purée the fruit and pass it through a sieve to make a juice. Mix 650ml of the juice with the syrup and the lemon juice. Place the mixture in an ice cream machine and freeze until quite solid and dry-looking, then firm in the freezer for half an hour before serving, if you can wait that long.The scoop: Potassium in orange-fleshed melons was proved by the UN World Food programme to reduce blood pressure. Use your melon.

Now, hold fire, this recipe gets complicated. Only kidding, it’s child’s play. Make the sorbet syrup, then mix with the grapefruit juice and pop in the ice cream machine. Yup, that’s it. Serve this fruity sorbet as a palette cleanser in between courses or pour a shot of vodka over it for a naughty, but not too naughty, treat. Did we mention all these sorbets are fat-free?The scoop: Scripps Clinic in the US found halfm a grapefruit before each meal helped dieters lose 3.3lb to 10lb over 12 weeks. Sharp thinking.

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